- Hand-waxed cotton duck cloth w/leather strap
This was inspired by the fact that I’m on the road for at least 6 months out of the year. Ask anyone I travel with, I like me a shower and make darn sure that if the option exists, I exercise that option. I don’t necessarily have a typical traveling scenario — Having a homebase sans shower or real accommodations (tour bus), toting my essential belongings (computer, change of clothes, shower gear) into my temporary residence for the day (venue/dressing room), then back to homebase — repeat. There’s a fair amount of toiletry items that I need to take with me when leaving home for 30 days plus, but not all these things are needed on a daily basis (shaving equipment, etc). In fact, all I take to shower is soap, toothpaste/toothbrush, possibly shampoo, and shower shoes, aka whatever $5 flip flops I find before the tour (cause the showers are more often than not, not exactly a model of cleanliness and hygiene). In comes my idea. I just need something small to store and take my toiletry essentials to and fro with me. Put that together with the fact that I had some left over duck cloth, wanted to try hand-waxing, and scored a cut of unused leather from the PCC flea market last month, and you get this project.
The hand-waxing actually ended up working out and definitely has the look, feel, and water-repelling properties of typical waxed cotton. I wasn’t sure how it would work out so was a bit conservative with it, but I certainly could have waxed it a bit heavier. The scrunched hourglass shape was a product of me being overzealous with the elastic. I thought about fixing it but I actually kind of liked it, so I kept it.
I’ll be making a small dopp kit to go along with this at some point to carry all my other toiletries. I actually had this idea before I saw the Moore & Giles bar rollup, but I definitely used that as a springboard for my design once I saw it. All in all, pretty happy with it and will definitely be using it on our next tour.
